I Wanna See You There
by missdee1986
Summary: Charlie loses Monroe before she can explore what he really means to her. But strange happenings around her seem to suggest that he's not quite done with her. After all, he swore to protect her and that means protecting her even from herself. As Charlies world gets darker, Monroe searches for redemption before it's really too late. Rated M for future smut.
1. Chapter 1

Bullets were flying everywhere. The gunshots were deafening. Blood seemed to pool on the ground like raindrops, forming red puddles that splashed under her feet. The stains, she would later discover, would never wash out of her jeans. Miles was somewhere around, but she didn't know where. Her mom and Aaron were off across town trying to finally stop the Nano. Whether they had made it was anyone's guess.

But none of those things grabbed her attention now. Because Monroe had just been hit by a stray bullet, right in front of her. One second he had whipped his head around, looking for her probably. Their eyes had met briefly and he turned back to battle, gun in hand, only to turn right into the path of a bullet.

As she sped across the street, fast as her legs would carry her, he was already on his knees, dark red stain spreading across his chest.

Charlie's eyes were burning, her muscles screaming. People were knocking into her from all sides, whether friend or foe she didn't give a damn. It didn't slow her down for a second. She finally reached Monroe in time to catch his falling body in her arms, sinking to the ground.

He tried to struggle weakly against her until he realized who was holding onto him.

"Char- Charlotte-" The tears in her eyes and the fierce way she was clinging to him made something in Bass' soul shatter. All the times he had willed Charlie to say or do _something _that showed she cared for him, even a little... And now she was telling him silently that she did care, maybe even more than a little judging by the look on her face. Ironic, really, that he had to die to see it.

"Don't try to talk." She shushed him, her small hand covering the hole in his shirt.

"I need to tell- I have to tell you-" His eyes were losing focus as he blinked up at her beautiful face. He was still too shocked he'd actually been hit to feel the pain. But she had to know, how he felt, how much he wanted her. How sorry he was for anything he'd ever said or done to cause her pain.

The finale of the epic battle they had fought to defeat the Nano was still being played out around them. Infected humans against the band of fighters who had had been brave enough to come to Bradbury with their little gang.

But neither of them noticed. They were busy staring at each other, like they always did, a million different messages passing between them without a word being spoken out loud.

_I'm sorry Charlie._

_I know, I forgive you._

_I love you. In ways I never should have. But I'll never be sorry for it. _

Charlie's fingers gently cradled his face, her lips pressed into his forehead, his cheek and finally his mouth. "It's okay, I know."

There was so much more that she wanted to say to him. Thank you, for all the times he had risked his own life to protect her. Sorry, for being stupid enough to think, even for a moment that his son could replace him.

But he was fading fast and she was out of time. So she simply kissed him again, uncaring now of the fact that her tears were splashing onto his face.

"I feel it too, I feel the same," she whispered, "Please, don't go."

He seemed to sag against her. She pulled her head up to look at him and felt her heart shatter at the odd mix of relief and sadness there on his own.

"Why Connor?"

She stiffened, but she owed him the truth, this one, final chance she had to tell him. "Because I couldn't have you."

"You've always had me."

"Then don't leave me. Please." Her voice finally broke as she begged him not to go, to stay with her.

Monroe's hand reached for her face and she covered it with hers, turning her head, leaning against his touch.

Their eyes met once again.

_Don't leave me. _

_I'll never leave you Charlotte. _

_Prove it. _

_Don't forget me. _

_Never. _

And then his eyes went unfocused and drifted shut.

And Charlie let out the pained wail she had desperately been holding in.

The battle raged on around her, but she no longer cared who lost or won. It had seemed like the most important thing in the world not so long ago. Now, it had faded into insignificance.

Someone dropped to their knees behind her. She didn't bother to turn around. They could slit her throat if they wanted, she was busy willing the man in her arms to open his eyes, smile at her and make fun of her for crying over him.

It was only when she felt strong arms wrap around her that she knew it was Miles.

"We've gotta go Charlie."

"We can't leave him. I won't leave him."

"We have to. I'm sorry. I don't want to either, believe me." And she did, because his voice was as hoarse with pain as her own must sound. "But we have to go. Now. He wouldn't want you to die for his body. He's gone Charlie."

"He won't! He can't! He doesn't die, he never dies!"

Charlie felt herself be pulled away from Monroe, hauled to her feet by her uncle. "No. No.. Miles, please..."

His voice was trembling. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Somehow, she couldn't remember how, they ended up at the rendezvous point. It was just like when Jason died, been killed, by her. Everything was going on around her in slow motion yet still too fast for her to keep track of.

Rachel and Aaron arrived not long after them. They had split from the main group to go after the Nano's power source. Apparently even sentient beings had a hierarchy and whilst the rest of the gang had been distracting the Nano-foot soldiers, the teams resident geniuses had went after the Big Boss Nano, currently wearing Tom Neville. Aaron had developed a theory that if they fried the original Nano, the one the rest had sprung from, then eventually they would all lose their power and die off.

It had been a long, complicated theory and the plan had been even longer and ten times more complicated - which was why she'd had very little interest in the specifics from the start. And even less now. Because win or lose, she had just lost yet another person she cared about.

Once Miles had gotten her safely away and reunited with Aaron and her mom he had disappeared, stopping only long enough to explain why Monroe wasn't with them and to demand that they make it worth it by telling him their crazy plan had worked. They told him it had. He didn't seem to feel any better with the knowledge. Neither did Charlie.

For hours she sat by their campfire, staring into the flames. At some point Aaron dropped a blanket around her shoulders and a kiss on her head. His offer to be around if she needed to talk was met with a barely perceptible nod.

Monroe was dead. He was gone. The one person she had come to see as un-killable. There were more tears leaking down her face, which she brushed away angrily. The man had no right to her tears! He'd destroyed her family, killed her brother...

So why was there an aching hole in her own chest as well as his abandoned, empty body.

Because, a little voice in her head whispered, he has every right to your tears. He crawled his way into your heart and burrowed out a secure, comfortable place for himself.

And now he was gone.

Charlie wrapped her arms around her knees, pulling them up to her chest and burying her head, giving in to the wave of despair and emptiness.

As she shook, her body wracked with almost silent sobs, a hand found her shoulder.

"Charlotte."

Her head shot up, a gasp escaped her, stunned awareness going through her. Monroe...

But, as she looked around wildly for any sign of him, there was nothing. Her mom and Aaron were across the fire, talking quietly to each other. Miles had yet to return. And Monroe hadn't come back to her either.

As she stared helplessly into the fire again she failed to notice the man standing right behind her, his blue eyes wide in shock as he stared at his hand.

"What the hell?!"

**a/n - So... This is what happens when I have too much time on my hands and end up listening to the Ghost the Musical score. Don't ask. Anyway that song, With You, killed me. It also formed the seeds of this insane idea for a story. Let me know if you think I should continue, I'm gonna end up having to write it anyway cause it's interfering with my concentration for the other stories, but there's no reason you guys should have to suffer with me lol. Next chapters for both my other stories will be up in the next few days, they're much longer and need editing :) **


	2. Chapter 2

Bass woke up to the sounds of a dying battle echoing around him. He remembered Charlie, her small arms wrapped around him. There were tears, shockingly, mostly hers. And there had also been blood. His blood. Automatically his hand went for his chest and he was astonished to find there was nothing there. Not even a hole in his shirt. Confusion reigned.

But there were more important things to do right now. Like finding Miles and Charlie and making sure they hadn't gotten themselves killed. He got up, seeing a bunch of people he didn't recognize moving around in a daze. They didn't pay any attention to him as he left.

As he walked, he found himself running his hand over his chest, searching for the hole he _knew _had been put in him not long ago. Charlie had seen it, her hand had touched it.

The desperate look on her face came to him. The way her features had been screwed up in fear, for him, the first time he had ever seen that expression on her face.

It made him pick up his pace, the urge to go to her intensifying.

_"Don't leave me. Please." _Her broken voice, the softest of kisses, the deep feeling of comfort and acceptance her small actions had given him despite the pain he had been in.

Charlie cared about him. Bass wasn't sure what to do about that information. Ever since that night by the stolen train, when Neville had threatened her things between them had shifted again. To a friendlier place. More of her smiles were directed at him; the real ones, that lit up her already beautiful face and made it stunning. In a way, it was a good thing. A great thing even. But it also caused him more spontaneous unwanted erections than he could ever remember suffering during puberty. Every time she smiled at him he couldn't help wondering what that happy grin would look like from an entirely different angle.

And there had been moments where it seemed like maybe she had similar feelings about him. Sly touches that technically weren't necessary, odd intense looks when she knew that no one else was watching. And the thing he enjoyed most - her absolute and total hatred for any woman that decided to flirt with him. He'd never admit it out loud, but sometimes he had caught himself encouraging the attention - just so he could bask in the irritated reaction of his best friend's niece. Bass wasn't sure what that said about him.

He regretted it now though - wasting so much time holding on to the idea of her being even slightly possessive of him. What he should have done was grab her and plant one on her, a long time ago. Which was exactly what he planned on doing when he found her. If she shot him down he could always claim temporary insanity after passing out like that. Not like he didn't have a history of being slightly wacko.

But somehow he didn't think that she would shoot him down. She'd told him that she wanted him. Even if she had believed he was about to die, Charlie wasn't a liar. There had been nothing but honesty in her earnest gaze in that moment.

A small smile formed as he approached the clearing they had arranged to meet at when everything was over.

The first people he saw were Rachel and Aaron. Neither of them looked very happy and they were shooting worried glances over at someone curled up by the fire. They didn't look up as he walked over to the them.

"Well?" He spread his arms. "What happened? Are we finally robot free?"

They ignored him.

"Hey, what's up with you two?" Again, neither of them even glanced his way. What had he done now?

"Rachel!" Bass reached out to grab her arm and watched in mild bewilderment as his fingers passed right through her.

Confusion quickly turned to horror as his hand flew back to his chest, clutching at the undamaged shirt.

Fuck.

"Staypuft.." He tried. "AARON!" Aaron didn't even blink.

Bass whirled towards the figure by the fire. Charlie.

There were tears on her face as he came near her. She looked distraught.

With dawning terror, he realized what was happening here.

The sheer absurdity of the situation left him baffled. He'd never really believed in an afterlife, but apparently some form of it existed.

Charlie suddenly shifted, letting out a cry of total emotional pain. His heart broke. It seemed like it was his destiny to always be the cause of her pain. A swift surge of emotion made him kneel next to her and raise his hand to her shoulder in a comforting gesture.

"Charlotte."

He heard the gasp from her a split second before he noticed that his hand was actually touching her, not just passing through her body like it had with her mom.

Springing back with a jolt of panic, he stared at his fingers as if he'd never seen them before.

"What the hell?"

What was happening to him? Was he dead? Dreaming?

Bass was distracted by the sight of Miles staggering into the clearing and making a beeline straight for Charlie. His brother looked fucking awful. Red, blotchy, sorrow-filled face, his normally squared shoulders slumped in defeat - half-empty bottle clutched tight in his fist.

Miles half - fell down next to Charlie and immediately pulled her to him.

Bass watched as Charlie rested her head on her uncle's shoulder and never felt more alone in his life.

They were clearly devastated. He had long since stopped expecting anyone to give a crap when he died, but the sight of their grief brought him no pleasure.

"We have to go back for him." Charlie's voice sounded small, wounded.

"We can't. Not yet." Rachel told her as she approached them with Aaron close at her heels. He patted Miles on the back and took a seat beside Charlie.

Rachel grimaced under the furious glare of her daughter.

"Charlie, the Nano aren't gone yet. They'll take a while to die out. We're not entirely safe here as it is. If we go back there now we'll probably be walking into a Nanite firing squad."

For some reason, Aaron's gentle explanation sent her over the edge. Charlie angrily pulled away from Miles and stood, fresh tears glistening on her cheeks.

"We can't just leave him there!"

Miles said nothing. He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts. But Bass felt a sliver of fear creep up his spine. Somehow, he didn't know why, he was filled with dread at the idea of her going back there. "She's gonna go back there if you don't stop her you dick! Miles!"

"Your mom's right Charlie. There's nothing we can do for him, not tonight. We'll go back for him in the morning, give him a proper burial." Miles spoke up.

If Charlotte could see what it cost Miles to say those words to her, she ignored it. But Bass couldn't. He could see the pain in his brothers eyes.

"But-"

"But what Charlie?" Miles snapped.

"He's all alone. We just left him there, all by himself. With _them._" God, he wanted to hold her. He saw all three people with her flinch visibly. To his surprise, it was Rachel who stepped forward to comfort her.

"He's not alone, Charlie. He's with his family now. What's left behind isn't Monroe anymore sweetheart, okay? He's alright now." Rachel hesitantly reached out to take her daughters hand in hers. "And he wouldn't want you to get yourself hurt because of his body."

For the first time in years, Bass found himself nodding along to what Rachel was saying. Lucky she couldn't see him, or she'd have dropped dead along with him, out of shock. The mental image cheered him up for half a second.

It didn't stop his heart from giving a lurch when Charlie silently sank back down next to Miles. "Charlotte Matheson," he muttered, "crying over me... Never thought I'd see that." He couldn't help it, the frustration of what was happening to him was boiling over and the slightly sarky comment was out before he even considered the pointlessness of speaking.

Charlie's head shot up, eyes wide. "Did you hear that?"

Three sets of confused eyes followed her as she frantically looked around again.

"Hear what?" Aaron asked, shooting a worried glance towards Miles.

Excitement bubbled in his chest as Bass looked on, knowing her eyes were searching for him. "I'm here, Charlotte. I'm right here." He rushed forward, falling to his knees in front of her. "Charlotte..." But his words didn't reach her this time. He tried to touch her again but his hand went right through her like she wasn't even there. The only sign she'd felt anything at all was the slight shiver he saw go through her. But it was enough to send a spark of hope through him. Somehow, Charlie could hear him, could _feel _him.

He was scared, that much he could admit to himself. He'd died, hours ago, yet here he was. There was no white lightm no waiting family members. It could only be a good thing that there weren't any flames or men with pitchforks either.

If she could feel him then it meant that he was still around, was still him. There was a comfort in that at least. He sat beside her, watching as more survivors from the battle arrived back at camp. Rachel and Aaron took care of injuries and dishing out the news about him. Before long, the camp had settled for the night.

They had won. The greatest threat to humanity had been destroyed. The patriots were all but wiped out and come tomorrow morning, the world would know that the power was coming back. But the mood at camp was somber. Everyone was keeping an eye on the pair by the fire.

It was no secret that Miles and Bass were brothers who went back years. Or that they had both been to pretty dark places over the years. It was also no secret that Charlie, on a good day, held the same kind of exasperated affection for Monroe that she did for her uncle. And that she had the innate ability to push back the darkness in both men. Now, however, she seemed broken. If Miles went off the rails, Charlie would be more likely to follow him over the edge rather than pull him back.

If either of them noticed the wariness of the people around them, they made no move to reassure anyone.

As everyone fell asleep around them, Bass sat with the pair, keeping silent vigil over their grief as if he could shield them from it.

Eventually. Charlie fell asleep, head on Miles' lap. She looked so young and untroubled when she was sleeping. Bass had needed to stop himself from reaching out to touch her face on a hundred different nights. If she woke, or anyone had seen him, he'd surely have ended up stabbed.

At least there was an upside to being dead.

He intended on running his fingers across her cheek, her lips, maybe push her hair out of her eyes. Instead, he felt a pulling sensation in his stomach the second he made contact. He tried to pull his hand back, alarmed, but it didn't move. His head was spinning, the world around him dissolved into a whirl of colors. Before he could decide if he was petrified or not, the spinning stopped and his back slammed into the ground. Bass sat bolt upright and immediately saw that it was now daytime and he was no longer beside a camp fire.

Charlie was back home, where she had grown up. She found herself sitting in the fairground she always used to escape to when things were rough at home. She'd had this dream a dozen times. Usually, she was alone. But occasionally the quiet dream turned into a nightmare when her dead appeared one by one, to torment her with her inability to save any of them. And then she'd wake up and find it wasn't real.

This time though, she knew she was dreaming. Something felt different. The hairs on the back of her neck were prickling. The air seemed thick and everything was just a little bit too bright.

As her eyes adjusted, she saw someone walking towards her.

And the world shifted beneath her. She stood up quickly, heart hammering inside her chest.

"Monroe?"

He blinked at her, seeming as surprised to see her as she was to see him.

"Hello Charlotte."


	3. Chapter 3

In half a second, Charlie was on her feet and racing towards him. Even she wasn't sure what she was going to do when she reached him.

He was staring at her with the strangest expression she had ever seen grace his features as she came to a halt right in front of him. There were a thousand things she wanted to say to him. Some would have sounded like declarations of love. Others would have sounded like declarations of war.

"You left me."

"I didn't want to."

"We left you there, in the street." She didn't know why it felt important to tell him that, but it did.

"I'm not there, I'm here, with you."

"I miss you."

It was then that her voice cracked. Because she did miss him, so much that she couldn't breathe. When had that happened? When had Sebastian Monroe become one of the people she didn't think she could go on without?

Monroe pulled her to him as the first tear fell. Normally she'd be mortified at the amount of crying she had done lately. But right now she was feeling nothing but pain and want. For him. Her arms locked around his back as he held her against his chest.

"It's not fair." She whispered brokenly.

"I know," he muttered into her hair. "But I'm here, I'm with you and I'm always going to be."

"But you're not. You're not with me you're just gone, like everyone else and I can't - I don't - I can't do it again. I'm going crazy. I'm tired of losing everyone who matters to me. I just wanna close my eyes and join you all." It was easy, she found, to blurt out all the things in her mind to dream-Monroe. He'd been in like a zillion dreams of hers before and there hadn't been much talking at all in them, so this was new.

"I know, Charlie, trust me I get it. It never gets easier, losing people. It's about the only thing in this world that doesn't get any easier no matter how many times it happens. But you have to be strong, you have to try to keep going and the pain will eventually recede enough to let you move on." His voice was low and comforting, yet she tightened her grip on him.

"I don't want to move on." She disagreed stubbornly. "I want you to come back. There are things I need to tell you and now I can't ever do that."

"Tell me now."

She gave a laugh totally devoid of humor. "It's not the same."

"Why?"

"Because you're not real! You're just a dream and when I wake up you'll be gone again."

"What if I'm not? Gone, I mean. What if I'm still with you and can hear you? Would you tell me then?" There was an edge to his tone, one that confused her. But it was overshadowed by the memory of hearing his voice, twice, hours after he had died. Clearly, she had lost it. She knew it was her grief making her hear things that weren't there but still... he had a point.

"Where are we?" He asked, "I don't know this place."

"Home." Charlie responded in a small tone of voice. "This is where I lived with my dad and Maggie, before..." The sentence trailed off into nothing, they both knew why she had left her home behind.

"Do you miss it?" His hand was rubbing soothingly up and down her arm.

Charlie could feel herself disconnecting, she could smell him he was so real, but the scene around them was fading. "I think I'm waking up. I don't want to go."

"It's okay. I'll be here when you sleep again Charlotte, I promise."

She didn't know why she believed the earnest way he said it, but she did.

As he started to pull away from her she looked up at him. He gave her a blinding smile and her heart jumped.

"Just in case." She muttered just before her lips found his in what was supposed to be a gentle kiss. She had dreamed about kissing him, and doing much more, many times before. But this one felt different. The knowledge that it was never going to happen for real lent a kind of desperation to it.

Suddenly their hands were everywhere, bodies molding together. Just as his mouth broke from hers to find her throat, she sat bolt upright, breathing hard.

It took her a few seconds to realize she had woken up. The moment she did her heart stopped beating wildly and sank in her chest.

Back in reality, she saw the mood in camp hadn't changed. Miles had finally fallen asleep beside her, his arm draped across her legs.

The guy on watch nodded her direction, a look of sympathy on his face. He probably thought she'd been having a nightmare about Monroe. Shame swept her then and she felt disgusting. The man wasn't even cold yet and she was having arousing dreams about him. Right next to Miles as well! She was disgusted with herself. Flinching away from her uncle, she quickly got up and exited the camp as fast as her legs would carry her.

Once she was away she broke into a run. Sprinting away from the desolate scene she had woken up to. And she didn't stop until she'd reached the river and couldn't go any further.

Panting, she fell to her knees, too tired to even cry. Unaware of the man right in front of her, watching with intensity in his eyes.

"I'm sorry." She said quietly, after a long few moments. "I'm sorry. For so many things. I'm sorry you had to die. I'm sorry we left you there, I didn't want to... I'm sorry that I slept with Connor. I thought - I believed that it would make my feelings for you go away.

I hated you _so much _for so long... And then you saved me when I was more afraid than I've ever been.

And you kept on saving me and forcing me to see beyond the man I first met. When I thought you were going to die, before, I didn't understand why I felt so desperate. Then I thought the Patriots killed you, I didn't know why I felt so bad, I was supposed to hate you.

But after you found Connor everything changed again. It hurt. I tried to pretend that I didn't care that you were pulling away from me, but I did. And then that night, by the train, when you saved me again, I _knew _the man I thought I saw in you was real. But I didn't have the guts to admit how I felt. I still don't know exactly what I feel. And you went and died on me so I'm never gonna know.

You make me feel so many things all at once sometimes I think I'll burst. Nobody gets under my skin the way you do. Did. I had a dream about you last night, you told me I could move on. But I don't think I can. I'll never meet anybody like you again and anyone I do meet will only ever stand out to me because they're not _you_. It's all my fault. You got distracted and I know it's cause you were checking on me. You were always checking on me and it got you killed and I'm so sorry."

Charlie's voice broke, her words finally trailing off. Every single one had caused her pain but she needed to get them out before they ate away at her insides.

"Charlie?"

Her head snapped up. Aaron was right behind her and she hadn't even noticed him there.

"What are you doing out here? Everyone will be worried about you."

Charlie cleared her throat, wiping harshly at her eyes. "Just had to get away. You heard me talking to myself?"

He knelt down beside her. "The army guy on watch told me you left camp so I followed. And it sounded to me like it was Monroe you were talking to."

"Aaron, I-"

"Hey," he held his hands up in a gesture of peace, "I'm not judging you. Monroe wasn't such bad a guy. Sometimes. And I know things were different with you and him than they were with him and well - everyone else."

Off her confused look he added, "Miles wouldn't have trusted him with a pet rabbit yet he _always _trusted him with you. Even when he was being a dick, we always worried a little bit less about you if you were with him, because we knew he'd look after you. Your mom knew too, that's why she saved him from that lethal injection."

As Charlie opened her mouth to reply she realized she couldn't form one. Aaron seemed to sense this. "Look, all I'm saying is it's okay to be upset that he's gone. You shouldn't feel guilty for mourning him, you guys had a different relationship. It's okay to grieve him. You obviously cared about each other."

The words meant more to her than she could ever explain. So when the tears returned she let them. When he wrapped his arms around her she let him. Instead of fighting against it, she gave in and hugged him back.

Charlie loved Aaron. Fiercely, in a way that was weirdly needy and protective at the same time. He had done what very few of her actual family had ever done for her - signed on to be there, for her, no matter what. And he'd never let her down. Even when she knew he was terrified, hurting, being tormented by the technology he had helped create. He'd always somehow managed to be concerned about her, and to let it show. Theirs was the purest relationship in her life - mainly because he refused to give up on her, even when she tried to pull away. A hug from Aaron was usually the one thing that provided the feeling of safe, familial love that no one left alive could do for her.

But for the first time, she could draw no comfort from him. What she needed, or maybe just wanted - but that was the same thing right now anyway - was to be back in Monroe's arms. She'd only managed to hold onto him once, as he died in her arms, in all the time she'd known him. But that hug, in her dream... Even though it wasn't real, Charlie could still feel the warmth of him around her if she focused her thoughts hard enough. And that kiss... she had no clue where her subconscious had pulled that kiss from. She had never been kissed like that in her life. Of all the dreams she had ever had about Monroe, that last one was better than all the rest put together. It had felt so real.

But she didn't even imagine for a second that it had been. So as she pulled herself together and let Aaron help her up, she was distinctly unaware of Monroe's pain filled eyes following her every step.

He felt like he was going to explode. Why was this happening to him? He could still feel her against him, fitting perfectly snug into him, as he had always suspected she would. Charlie obviously didn't hate him as much as she once did and always found a way to defend him - against her mom, against the people who came and went through their group and insisted on treating him like a monster, even Miles once or twice; Charlie was always there, with a disparaging remark or an out and out threat of extreme violence. Up until today that had been enough for him, just knowing that the beautiful young woman he'd become half-obsessed with at least had his back. But her reaction to his death and the admittance he'd just heard from her own mouth... Feelings for him he'd never expected her to be capable of..

As he trailed behind Charlie and Aaron, he vowed silently that he would be there, with her. Whether she could see him or not. And when she was asleep, well... he would be spending every dreaming moment with her. It was far more than he deserved and far less than he really wanted.

But he would take what he could get.

* * *

><p><em>Bradbury...<em>

The people stood in a circle, surrounding a body that was lying on a table in the middle of the dark room.

"Is he gone?"

"No. A human coma it would seem."

"But we need him! He's the vessel!"

"Yes, but until his conscious mind wakes he is useless to us."

A dark haired man stood in the corner of the room, watching them all with a calculating gaze. "Can't you just take him over now? It would be easier than trying to trick him into it."

"It would be easier yes, but he could wake up at any moment and eject us. Far safer to manipulate his mind and gain permanent control."

The dark haired man shifted on his feet, looking suddenly worried. "Is it working with the others?"

"Yes, rate of success is very encouraging. Unfortunately we are almost out of time, those of our brothers and sisters still without a permanent host are dying as we speak. You must go find more volunteers."

The man gave a swift nod and turned to leave. When he was halfway out of the room, he turned back. "What about the Mathesons? They might come looking for him. Shall we finish them off when they get here?"

"No. The Mathesons are still vital to our plans, leave them."

The man nodded and walked away, leaving the no-longer-human creatures to turn back to the curly-haired man lying on the table.


End file.
